An Edison-Based Password Keeper

I’m Daniel, a professional software developer. This is my very first instructable, and I’m über-excited. I hope you’ll like. 🙂

With this instructable, I try to solve a problem everyone has: Passwords. Accounts. Logins. All the stuff you need to get into your favourite social media site, shopping site, blog or forum (they still exist, huh?). Now, there are several ways to control your accounts:

Use always the same credentials: No. Never ever do that. Seriously. If your account gets hacked on one site, chance is that the hacker(s) will try the credentials on other, popular sites also. Don’t underestimate them. They are smart. Criminals, but smart.

Use a software on every device: You can do that. And if you are lucky, this software will run forever on this device. But maybe, at some point, you will get rid of the devices. Uh-oh…

Write them down: Yepp. You can do that. But – everyone who finds your book will be able to read your passwords. That wouldn’t be that great, right?

To solve all of this, I created a device called “The PinTin Nano”. It has it’s name from the fact that it’s a) pretty small and b) fits in a mint tin. I love that, because that makes the device easy to carry around.

Step 1: The Shopping List

First, you will need to go shopping. And yes, this one is going to be expensive, sorry…

Intel Edison

A base board (any board will do which allows you to activate WiFi on the Edison, so normally a board with a console port)

Roughly calculated, you will be at around 120 USD for all of this, so this is quite a lot.

A word of wisdom in terms of the hardware pack: Some dealers still have the pack with the long screws around. Make sure you get the right, as they wouldn’t fit that great otherwise.

The tin I’m using has the size of 7 cm x 6 cm x 2 cm (roughly). Depending on the tin you are using, you can alter the lipo battery you are using. I had to go with a smaller one, because the large one won’t fit.

Ok – ready? You’ve got everthing? Perfect. Let’s continue!

Step 2: Assemble Everything

To continue working on the project, you’ll need to assemble everything. This is pretty straight forward:

For starters, you will need to attach the Edison to a base board or similar. After you’ve done everything to connect it via ssh, you can disconnect it from the base board, and attach it directly to the Battery Board.

If you want to put it into the tin that I’m using, you will need a different type of battery, a smaller one. Replacing the battery is pretty easy though, as you can see in the pictures.